The
first-ever air pick-up of this
year's migration took place at 7:24 a.m. During
an
air pick, the airborne ultralights swoop low as
they pass the cranes' pen and pick them up as the gates open and
let them free. Heather Ray tells what happened: As airborne Brooke
gave the pen team the
signal
over their
radio ear
pieces, both
gates
were
thrown
open to free the eager cranes. After their usual
jumping around and short flights, they were beginning
to settle down when Brooke zoomed in and 12 birds took off after
him. At the same time, pilots Joe and Richard were ready and waiting
on the front lawn
of the landowner's
home for Heather's radio
message letting
them know how many Brooke had launched with. After hearing that two
cranes were still on the ground, Joe and Richard zoomed off and moved
in to pick up the two. As their trikes neared the field,
all but one of Brooke's birds veered off toward Joe! Quick-thinking
Joe picked up these birds as Richard
flew in and picked up the two that hadn't yet gotten
off the ground.

Eleven cranes formed up on Joe's aircraft: 8 on the left wingtip and
3 off the right. Shortly after Richard got his
two better-late-than-never birds up, one bird broke and joined
Brooke. Richard brought up the rear of the flight
order with a single bird. They stayed in that flight formation
all the way to Morgan County, IN. Flight time was 1 hour and 18 minutes.
They covered 55.5 miles. How
many miles total so far?

Weather tomorrow looks promising for a 47-mile flight to Muscatatuck NWR--the
final stop in Indiana (near Seymour). Last year the public was invited
to watch the
early
morning
takeoff from this site. Watch for news tomorrow!

Winds today were out of the WNW. Why were these considered favorable
tailwinds for this part of the route?

Get out
your migration
chart and fill in the blanks as you copy this statement
into the NOTES part of your chart: "Morgan County was the ___(number)
stop and only the ___(number) time that the ground crew didn't have
to
pick
up any dropouts."

The entire
team met last night to plan the air pick-up. They planned every detail,
and it worked like a charm. When have you laid very careful plans
and then met with success, thanks to your planning?